Determine exactly how much money you have in your account even if you have to go to bank for help.

Enter that information on a new page in your check register.

Enter date, your check number, payee and amount in your check register when you write he check. Don't worry about people in line behind you. This will only take a few seconds. If you like, you can deduct amount of check when you get home.

Take your check book with you when you use ATM and enter your withdrawal while you are still at machine.

Develop a system to deduct automatic withdrawals. It is probably best to deduct these on first of each month.

Add any deposits as you make them. You need to find out how much and when direct deposits should be entered in your check register.

When you receive your bank statement, reconcile it as soon as possible. If you find any descrepancies check them out immediately. Don't give up until you are sure you have resolved problem. The balance you show in your check register should match bank, less any bank charges.

When you reconcile your bank statement be sure to clearly mark checks that have been returned to you. One of biggest problems people have with overdrafts is missing a check that is taking a long time clearing bank. Go back at least a month to make sure all previous check have cleared.

I really don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence with this article. Having problems with your checking account, as with all other money problems, isn't a matter of intelligence anyway, it's a matter of discipline. It can cost you a lot of money by not applying that discipline to managing your checking account.

6. Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Edison, and Mark Twain all went to a formal “grammar” school for less than two years. All were home-schooled by their parents or self-taught after they learned to read. Author John Gatto, in his book “Dumbing Us Down” said that most children can learn to read, write, and do basic arithmetic in only 100 hours of intense study. Yet our public schools keep children locked up for 12 years, yet can barely teach them to read.

7. Once children learn to read and write well within two years of intense study, they doesn’t need a public school at all. With their parents’ help and guidance, they can direct their own studies and education at home. Over two million children do this right now—it’s called homeschooling.

8. Public schools are a government-controlled monopoly. Bad schools don’t close down because compulsory taxes prop them up. Incompetent or mediocre teachers aren’t fired because tenure laws protect them. That’s why public schools will never improve and will always waste children’s precious time.

9. A study by National Education Commission on Time and Learning found that middle-school and high-school children spent on average only about 50 percent of their school day on core "academic" subjects. The rest of their time is spent on classes about sex-education, personal safety, family life, consumer affairs, AIDS and drug prevention, save-the-environment, multiculturalism studies, "cooperative-learning" projects, study halls, electives, homeroom, counseling, sports activities, or pep rallies (high school).

If parents value their children’s time, passion for learning, and future success in life, then they should consider taking their children out of public school, permanently.